


Dreamin' When You Said

by Highsmith (quimtessence)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Every Woman 2020, Family, Gen, Ghosts, Humour, Ireland, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:13:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25516333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quimtessence/pseuds/Highsmith
Summary: She's thirty-eight, a marriage in shambles which has turned into an official divorce as of a fortnight ago and Muggles being a ridiculous lot as per usual, when she boards a ferry and goes off to her Great-Aunt in Cork for the summer.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 12
Collections: Every Woman 2020





	Dreamin' When You Said

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CypressSunn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CypressSunn/gifts).



> Title from "Ivy" by Frank Ocean.

She's thirty-eight, a marriage in shambles which has turned into an official divorce as of a fortnight ago and Muggles being a ridiculous lot as per usual, when she boards a ferry and goes off to her Great-Aunt in Cork for the summer. Although it's already July, there's rainbow banners still hanging from lampposts, and Cho can't wait to find a new favourite pub for the next two months, even though, realistically, she might have to go magicless for the sake of a decent lager.

Auntie is an odd duck. By any standards, surely. Her magic is a tad random, to the point of where her Muggle neighbours surely must have an inkling, however small, that there's something decidedly un-Muggle-like about her, and Cho isn't sure how they haven't all been arrested and their memories erased already, but there you go.

"The pub is haunted, you know," Auntie mutters over afternoon tea Cho's first day there, completely matter-of-factly.

There she goes. She doesn't seem like she expects an answer. Or any pertinent questions, for that matter, seeing as she's already risen from her seat and exited the kitchen where Cho is finishing the last of her biscuit.

Granted, it _could_ be you know, _haunted_ , but Cho sincerely doubts that's the case given it's listed on TripAdvisor with rather stellar reviews when she looks it up on her phone a few minutes later. The internet is the last place where a haunted wizard pub can hide, she's reasonably certain.

She grabs her umbrella, the sky looking a bit overcast, and goes off to find The Hog and Mutton, pointedly not thinking of ghosts.

*

All right. So perhaps there's some truth to the entire haunted pub story. Either that, or Muggles have come up with some truly astounding tricks to keep patrons entertained.

Funny thing is, no one seems in any way surprised by it at all. Cho has yet to glance even one pointed hat or wand, which means _Muggles_ are entirely unsurprised. And if the lot assembled for Happy Hour cocktails isn't magical, then they sure are good at hiding it. Cho's reasonably good at fitting in, has learnt a lot over the years, especially interacting with her in-laws. She refrains from drawing her wand and pays in euro for one thing. Even the tourists seem completely unfazed.

Turns out the lager is completely disgusting. She downs it anyway and asks for another. The ceiling has a thin, silvery veil around it. Which might be a lightshow or an apparition. Using the loo confirms that the pub is, in fact, haunted. Rather mediocrely and incompetently, but obviously so once you see the signs, by which Cho means a ghostly person walks through her while she's washing her hands at the sink.

"Marvellous," she mutters, quietly thankful it didn't happen while she was taking a piss in the stall earlier.

*

Look, how was she supposed to know that the ghost was not only friendly but a rather popular tourist attraction? Rereading the TripAdvisor reviews on her way back to Auntie's, she eventually notices the little details, the dropped hints at the ghostly activity, the extra stars for the so-called "entertainment value". She scowls at her phone screen the rest of the way back.

When Auntie asks, she grumpily mutters, "I may have exorcised the ghost."

"My dear, you didn't!"

"You mentioned it," she points out. But Auntie's already exiting the French windows for the garden.

Well. This won't make her stay here any friendlier, but at least it clears up some questions about Auntie's magic and the Muggles living nearby. Then again, no one tarred and feathered her, so it could have been worse. Angry mobs wouldn't be one hundred percent out of the question, after all.

"When you visit the vicar, be sure to bring the nice biscuits," Auntie adds before shuffling off upstairs.

Cho didn't even hear her come back into the kitchen. "They're Catholic, there is no vicar," she calls out, but there's no one listening. Not that there usually seems to be. Where's a ghost when you need it? Oh, _right_. She's close to rolling her eyes at herself, but refrain if only because it's been a hard enough day and half as it is.

*

She does splurge on the posh biscuits, though. Making amends and all that. She does find that, oddly enough, it might just work.


End file.
